Fall Creek’s Lescalo Chenin Blanc is the ideal summer wine. Not only does it display refreshing citrus and mineral notes with lively acidity, but it also contains much less alcohol, carbohydrates and calories than most wines.
This delicious, dry white weighs 9.8% alcohol and has – depending on which laboratory analysis you read – 88 or 89 calories per 5 ounce serving. That’s about 33 calories less than the average white wine. White and rosé wines with less than 12% alcohol are considered low-alcohol, while those below 10% are very low-alcohol.
Making a low-alcohol, low-calorie wine was a relatively new goal for Susan Auler, co-founder of Fall Creek Vineyards in the Texas Hill Country. She and her husband Ed founded the winery 42 years ago and are part of the pioneering families of modern Texan winemaking.
Auler chose Lescalo after finding some lower calorie wines that she found palatable. Originally, Auler wanted a 50-calorie wine, but she wanted to make a purely natural wine – without intervening in the extraction of alcohol. When Fall Creek winemaker Sergio Cuadra produced a very tasty first vintage, Auler was delighted and decided on a 2020 vintage, which is now in the shops.
Wines that are naturally low in alcohol are made by a slightly earlier grape harvest when they have less sweetness and more acidity. The longer the grapes ripen on the vine before harvest, the higher their sugar content. Sugar turns into alcohol during fermentation. So if you start with less sugar, you will naturally get a wine with less alcohol. Since alcohol is not what gives a wine its taste, a low alcohol wine can be made without sacrificing taste or texture.
In order to give the Lescalo enough fruit character, the Aulers decided to produce Chenin Blanc grapes. “Chenin Blanc has always been one of my favorite grapes. It naturally has this exuberant round fruit, ”says Auler. This fruity profile offers more scope for an early harvest and at the same time retains the varietal character.
Lescalo is much drier and livelier in acidity than Fall Creek Vineyard’s entry-level Chenin Blanc, which has more residual sugar. In fact, Lescalo’s residual sugar is so low (0.15%) that it is classified as zero sugar under federal and state regulations. The 2020 vintage shows notes of lemon and lime and a stony minerality.
The Aulers chose the name Lescalo because it abbreviated and combined the words “less” and “caloric” while having a European sound. “There’s a tradition for [lower alcohol winemaking] in Europe, ”says Auler. “Many winemaking families would produce low-alcohol wine during the harvest because they harvest in the morning, take a lunch break and have lunch with wine. They found that they were more productive when they drank the wine with the lower alcohol. “
Nobody suggests you drink this wine during your work day. But the lower alcohol content makes it a great choice for daytime parties or lunches, especially in hot weather. The lively acidity also gives it a food-friendly note for dinner. Auler says Lescalo goes well with sushi. It also goes well with light fish dishes and fried foods.
Lescalo sells for $ 15.99 at Pogo’s, Dallas Fine Wines, Central Market on Lovers Lane, and Makarsee Market on Flower Mound.
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